Summer School Online

Welcome to our summer school community at the University of Amsterdam! Many of our 2020 summer programmes have been cancelled due to Covid-19, so we have decided to bring Amsterdam to you. Below you can find all sorts of content - lectures, podcasts, articles, and videos - related to our programmes and summer in our city. We will add more content over the coming months so check back regularly for new interviews, mini-lectures or podcast episodes, and follow us on Instagram for updates.

These programmes will be running online this summer. Some programmes are brand new to help students get the credits they need in a variety of subjects, while other pre-existing programmes have transitioned to an online format. Follow the links below to enrol today!

Our podcast 'Mokum' delves into the heart of important conversations around the world, introducing you to the material we would cover in a range of our summer programmes. In a series of interviews with some of our usual academic experts, we bring education with a purpose to life, and welcome you into our community.

Researchers at the UvA have been teaching on the subject of Placemaking as a collaborative approach to urban planning and design since 2017, and collected their projects on Placemaking in Amsterdam. The website is in Dutch, but projects by our summer students are available in English (for instance, the spark village common room project).

Amsterdam is recognized around the world as one of the leading cycling cities: but how did we get to where to we are, and what important changes to policy and behaviour are needed to transition to a cycling city? Our colleagues at the Urban Cycling Institute have a team of experts researching cycling as an important part of the fabric of the city. They have also developed an open online course that serves as an excellent introduction to our Planning the Cycling City programme.

Globalisation, Economics and Multilateralism

Our academic director for Economics: Markets & Society Dawid Walentek and two of his colleagues have recently published an article in Public Choice, in which they are applying evolutionary game theory to global trade cooperation.

For both Addiction Studies and Mindfulness, this text by Brian Ostafin on mindfulness and self-regulation provides key insights. Ostafin has been a guest lecturer in both programmes, in joint as well as individual sessions.

Migration, Social Change and Security Studies

A key introductory text for our course Migration and Integration: Refugees, Rights & Realities is Who is a Refugee by Andrew Shacknove. We also always discuss the global trend reports by the UNHCR. The report on 2019 is planned to be online in June.

Sexuality Studies

Sexuality studies has a rightful home in Amsterdam: the city has long been a safe-haven for anyone who was 'different', and the Dutch mindset of tolerance proved an ideal support for the growing LGBTQ community in Amsterdam, that has only grown since its inception. Those interested in reading more about the intricacies of the Dutch response to homosexuality should start with Gert Hekma and Jan Willem Duyvendak's The Netherlands: Depoliticization of Homosexuality and Homosexualization of Politics.

The Anthropocene

If you want to take a deep-dive into the topic of the Anthropocene, reading Bruno Latour is a great place to start for grasping some key concepts. See if you can access--or consider purchasing-- his book Facing Gaia (2017). Alternatively, there are some lectures by Latour available on Youtube, for instance his talk for the Haus der Kulturen der Welt. Other scholars we would recommend reading are Timothy Morton and Anna Tsing.

Further, The Human Planet by Simon Lewis & Mark Maslin is a well-written pelican introduction to the topic. If you are interested in the way writers and artists are responding to the Anthropocene, this article in the Guardian is an excellent read if only for the many examples discussed. In the creative non-fiction section we would recommend The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Colbert (2015) or This Changes Everything by Naomi Klein (2015).

For those interested in a more solid introduction to the social science study of epidemics and pandemics, our academic directors recommend: The Pandemic Perhaps by Carlos Caduff (2015), The Viral Network by Theresa Mackphail (2014), Global Health by Mark Nichter (2008) and Catastrophe & Culture by Hoffman and Oliver-Smith (2002).

Journalism, Media, and the Politics of Suspicion

Analysing the present takes many forms. Coming to terms with the fast pace of the world today, as well as the media we consume is a tall task. If you're interested in putting the present into a long-term perspective, we recommend Dutch journalist and author Rutger Bregman's article in Time: The Moment to Change the World is Right Now.

If you are interested in the study of our media landscape (news, films, popular culture), fake news and the rise of conspiracy theories, the website EU versus Disinformation is a great resource. They zoom-in on political questions regarding data and media, especially when it comes to disinformation campaigns from Russia that are affecting the European Union. Also recommended: this New York Times article on coronavirus conspiracy theories, and the role conspiracy theories play in our current global media ecosystem.

Western Esotericism

The Occult: a term that includes a wide variety of academic inquiries into spiritualism, questions about humanity and its origins, philosophy, the natural sciences, and a wide variety of esoteric traditions. Occultism is a study at the intersections between science and religion, and has been around for centuries. It includes texts from some of the world's most influential thinkers. Interested in esotericism and the study of the occult? Check out Dr. Wouter Hanengraaff's introduction to the Infinite Fire Webinar Series at the celebrated Ritman Library. In this video interview (in Dutch with English subtitles), the library's founder Joost R. Ritman introduces us to the topics, movements, and objects that his family spent years gathering. Questions of esotericism aren't just about reading ancient textts: listen to this 30 minute concert of early music by hermetic philosopher and mucision Robert Fludd.

Are you interested in Amsterdam's venues for art, culture and politics, or getting to know the UvA better? Explore our recommenations and online content below.

The University of Amsterdam is a globally renowned university. With just over 30 thousand students and five thousand employees, the UvA is a focal point within the fabric of Amsterdam. If you want to get a sense of our international education community, take a virtual tour of our Roeterseiland Campus. UvA alumni at Nozem Films recently captured the campuses that would normally be buzzing with students, in their short clip In This Together.

Curious about the role of the UvA in the fabric of Amsterdam? Visit openresearch.amsterdam, an online platform where researchers, policy makers, projects, and community members are brought together to help tackle the big problems of today.

Pakhuis de Zwijger is an independent platform for, by, and about the city of Amsterdam and its inhabitants. In their programmes, they focus on urban challenges, sustainability, and circular economies, while always posing questions around ownership, values and inclusivity. They are currently organising 'livecasts' instead of their on-site programmes. Don't speak Dutch? Go to Agenda and select 'English spoken events only'.

Many of our city's famous museums are offering possibilities to experience their collections from home, including our beloved Rijksmuseum. Whatch their video series, the online 'masterpieces' gallery tour, or simply browse through their collection online. More into modern and contemporary art? Stay-at-home Stedelijk offers live tours, mini-documentaries, workshops and audio tours. Interested in the University of Amsterdam's own Allard Pierson Museum? Explore the collections online or take a deep-dive into the image database. The Van Gogh Museum offers '4k videotours' and virtual museum wandering opportunities, but also colouring pages and online 'school lessons' (who says those are only for children?)

Looking for some direct interaction with a museum guide? We always recommend a visit to Museum het Schip, especially for students of our urban studies courses. They are now offering a private online tour for their current exhibition on architect Bruno Taut.

Or for something completely different: improve your knowledge of micro-biology and read-up on 'the invisible world' of virusses and bacteria on Artis Micropia. Micropia, the world's only museum (as far as we know) dedicated to microbes, is located at Amsterdam's city zoo Artis.

Summer School Online is brought to you by the Summer Programmes Office at the Graduate School of Social Sciences. If you have inquiries about one of our programmes, you can get in touch by mailing summer-info-gsss@uva.nl.

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